An environmentally friendly superhydrophobic modified polyurethane sponge by seashell for the efficient oil/water separation

Seeking eco-friendly, highly-efficient, low-cost, and robust adsorbents to remove oil from water resources are very much in demand. In this work, an environmentally friendly, recyclable, superhydrophobic, and superoleophilic seashell/epoxy resin/polyurethane (EP/SPU) sponge with contact angle of 174.10 ± 0.47˚ was prepared. EP/SPU sponge demonstrated high adsorption capacity in the range of 28.03–42.17 g/g times more than of its own weight for five oils and four organic solvents. The EP/SPU sponge was used 10 times for the adsorption of the oils and organic solvents with no significant loss in its adsorption capacity. The mechanical test suggested that the lightweight EP/SPU sponge is not compressible compared with neat polyurethane (PU) sponge. The volume of neat PU sponge decreased from 2.28 to 1.14 cm3 while the EP/SPU sponge volume (2.28 cm3) did not change. As a result, EP/SPU sponge is expected to be a promising sorbent for potential applications in the cleanup of oil spills from water.